4. What does blood cell damage mean?

Damage to blood cells is evidence that a toxic substance or its metabolites have been transported into the plasma, accumulated in the bone marrow, and interacted during the formation or maturation of blood cells (hematopoiesis).

This damage can :

• lead to the death of affected cells (cytotoxicity) and to a decrease in the total number of blood cells (aplasia);

• create covalent bonds with cellular DNA (DNA adducts), which induce significant distortion of chromatin structure, blocking replication and transcription. These adducts, formed by chemical substances or their metabolites, can be observed in lymphocytes.